{Giveaway is Closed}
Growing up, tomatoes have been a HUGE part of my family’s life every single summer for as long as I’ve been around. We were spoiled with home grown tomatoes all my life. I’m so happy that my hubby enjoys growing fruits and veggies too and he has made a huge effort to grow tomatoes for us for the last 3 years or so. It’s a learning process and he hopes to get even better at it.
With this new book that I was given for review, How to Grow Juicy Tasty Tomatoes, I do believe he will get even better at this tomato-growing game.
For more information on the book, check out the website, where you can also purchase your own copy of the book.
Written by Annette Welsford and Lucia Grimmer, two tomato growing enthusiasts from Brisbane, Australia, you will find so much great information for growing your own.
The book evolved one hot summer afternoon over a glass or two of wine accompanied by a selection of delicious tomato based savories, after their friends often lamented that searching the internet provided masses of tomato hits, but the information provided was either too technical or too general.
Thus, this book was born from 2 experts in the field.
It’s a soft cover book, chock full of great information for the home gardener. Everything you need to grow some beautiful, luscious fruit of your own:
- Tomato Varieties
- Site Preparation
- Cultivation
- Watering your Plants
- Nutrition
- Pests and Diseases
- Picking & Storage
- Collecting Seed
- Growing Organically
- Hydroponics
- Greenhouses
All of that and more! If you’re a tomato lover and home gardener, I think you’ll really enjoy having this book as a reference on your shelves. My hubby was really excited to see this come in and I know he’ll be scouring the pages for better tips on how to grow our tomatoes to the fullest next year.
(My dad is a wonderful gardener and these Romas are straight from his garden).
We brought home a huge amount of those Roma tomatoes from my parents’ place in the mountains and I had to do something with them, so I made a huge batch of salsa. We have been using these Concord Food packets, which you can get at most grocery stores in the produce section and they’re a really easy way to get salsa in a hurry, if you don’t feel like chopping everything to go in here. This packet is added to tomatoes and onions and has a really good flavor (not getting paid for this, but wanted to share). 
I made a HUGE bowl of salsa and we’ve been eating on it for a week. I used my blender to chop up all those Romas. I didn’t even peel them for the salsa.
I used the other half of the tomatoes for tomato basil soup. I quickly got the skins off by putting them in boiling water for just a couple of minutes. I learned that trick from my mom. The skins will slip right off. 
It was really delish! Just finished up the last of it.
If you’d like to win a copy of the book ($29.95 value), just leave a comment and tell me if you love tomatoes as much as I do! There is also a bonus CD included with the book which is a Varieties database.
Do you have a favorite variety that you love to grow? I’d love to hear that too.
You can also purchase the book here.
That’s it! I’ll draw a winner on Monday evening.
What great timing for this giveaway!! The hubby and I just planted some Fantastic tomato plants last weekend. We could really use this book! Thanks so much for the giveaway. Love your blog.
This book sounds terrific. I’m a relatively new veggie gardener (2nd year) and I can use all the tips I can get! Thanks for the awesome giveaway.
There’s nothing like a fresh tomato still warm from the sun!
Sue
Rhoda, My husband and I would love to have a copy of this book . Our vines for big tomatoes did not do too good this year. But the cherry tomatoes are giving us an abundance. We enjoy having them for salads and other dishes. You have given me so many decorating ideas. Always a treat to visit the blog. Thanks!
We LOVE tomatoes at our house, but haven’t grown them in years (since we moved from a house that already had a garden when we moved in). Maybe this book would be the kick in the pants we need to get started again.
I too grew up on tomatoes. Coming from a family of 6 siblings our summers were full of tomato sandwiches. Yummmm!! This past spring my sister sent me some of her Brandywine tomato seeds that she had received from a gentleman in her church. He had received them from his daughter who had purchased some at Jefferson’s Monticello house. These seeds were 2 years old but I have been enjoying the best tomatoes I have ever eaten. There are many Brandywine heirloom varieties but these are the pink variety…very meaty, flavorful, not acidic and soooo delicious. They are not always perfect in contour but this is one of the characteristics of an heirloom tomato. If you can’t find the seeds locally they may be purchased online at heirloomseeds.com or monticellocatalog.org. Everyday now I wait for my next Brandywine to ripen so I may devour it in a sandwich. Also, I am saving some of the seeds from my tomatoes this year to plant next year. Just wanted to make more people aware of this delicious brand of tomato that has not been tweaked for beauty and perfection for the consumer but is a great tomato to be planted in your garden.
Oh I would love this for my FIL!!!!! He has the best garden and would LOVE this!
My kids and I went to our local farmers market every week last month and bought the best tasting tomatoes I have ever had. It was a huge feeling of withdrawal when we went one week to gets some more and they were not selling them any more. I have decided next summer to try my own garden. This sounds like a great book to get me started with awesome tomatoes.
Freshly grown tomatoes are always so good! Wonderful giveaway!
Rhoda!..I have a new Giveaway on my site also!
Karena
Art by Karena
Rhoda, This is such a timely word! My husband and I have decided to grow our own tomatoes next summer. He has a friend with a large vegetable garden in South Georgia that has kept us stocked all summer. Nothing like a tomato sandwich on a hot summer day!!
Wow, thanks for hosting this Rhoda! My husband and I just started our first garden this year. We planted the better boy variety of tomatoes-and they taste great, but look a little weird-this book will definitely help! We are having so much fun though!
I would love to win this book! We grow tomatoes every summer and we normally grow Better Boys. They are wonderful for making a tomato sandwich!
Is there anything better than a tomato sandwich? Thanks for the chance.
Susie
I love fresh tomatoes. I would like to know how to grow them!
thanks for the giveaway- this was my first year to garden and have enjoyed cherokee purple tomatoes and better boys more so than any other we planted . plan to expand next season to include more veggie varieties. book sounds like it is very informative.
What a wonderful give away! Even if I don’t win this book I’m interested in buying it. We grow tomatoes in our garden every year and can them too. This year they are so slow to produce. Favorites: Honestly I don’t have a favorite, but last year I did can some yellow tomatoes (not sure of the actual name) and they were so good and so pretty in those jars.
Rhoda, we try growing tomatoes every year. Unfortunately, we haven’t found the secret to having lots of tomatoes. It’s a good thing that I have a friend who gives me tomatoes from her abundant crop!
What a perfect book give-away for the summer! I would love this book. Every year I say I am going to plant tomatoes , and then I never do. I am sure this book would give me the confidence to do that. Thanks, Rhoda!
I love tomatoes. Love them in salads, sandwiches, on bruschetta especially. I go to lowes and pick the best looking plants so I don’t really have a favorite brand. It’s not a brand but I love cherry tomatoes, I love to pop them in my mouth from the vine!!!